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General Information

The project

The project aims to build homes for people who lost their houses after the earthquakes on February 6th, 2023. To ensure our design is research-based, we participated in numerous meetings, conferences, and presentations with experts worldwide, during the last year. 

In addition, we conducted three field trips where we connected with local municipalities, communities, voluntary projects, and universities, and carried out multiple interviews. During these visits, we observed urban-rural displacement, long-term rebuilding efforts in villages, a lack of awareness, and concerns about current building practices. This is why our project focuses on long-term affordable housing solutions, using modular materials. 

Want to learn more? Watch our video or explore the three phases of our project

Project Timeline

Phase 1 | Knowledge

In phase one, we focused mainly on gaining and sharing knowledge about architectural recovery and to design possible solutions under the guidance of experts and specialists from various disciplines. For this, we organised a workshop week from 20 – 24 March. 

The outcome of this workshop week were 60 students designing 12 concept designs, under the guidance of many lecturers, experts and firms.

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Monday, February 6, 2023

Earthquakes Türkiye and Syria

On Monday 6 February 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit south-east Türkiye, close to the town of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.
Monday, February 6, 2023
February, 2023

Beginning of START

Seven students came together to see what they could do to help the earthquake-affected victims. After the first week, the organization group grew to 30 students who focused on organizing the workshop week.
February, 2023
March 20, 2023

Workshop Week | Syrian Turkish Architectural Recovery workshop week

During this week we designed 12 concept designs focusing on different disciplines and needs of the people affected by the earthquake.
March 20, 2023

Phase 2 | The Design

In phase two, we are working on the design. It’s essential to connect and align with many different stakeholder in order to fully understand the challenges they are facing. Especially the needs of local inhabitants should be taken into account when designing new homes. The design team is developing modular, long-term housing solutions by implementing local materials, flexibility and culture into the design. To validate this phase, a full scale prototype will be tested Delft University of Technology and later on build and tested in the Karsu village in Hatay. (In progress). In the below timeline, a glimpse of the past year is given, if you would like to know more about a specific event, feel free to get in touch with us!

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May, 2023

Next steps...

During the first two months after the workshop week, a couple of members of the team wanted to continue to take our concept designs into practice. During the mentorship program of Arcelik, we learned how to develop a business plan and to start up our initiative in the real world.
May, 2023
June, 2023

First Design Sessions and Keep learning & Nomination student initiative of the year

In June 2023, we analysed all the designs that were made and continued designing for the people in need. We decided to focus on the longer term, and decided to plan a fieldtrip to the region. Next to that we kept on learning and participating in events which were held in different parts of the Netherlands, focusing on the earthquake zone. This year we were also selected and nominated the best student initiative of the year of our faculty.
June, 2023
July, 2023

Fieldtrip #1

During our first field trip, we visited various cities affected by the earthquake. We explored each location, spoke with families who lost their homes, and connected with local municipalities to determine how we could support the area. We also visited reference projects focused on short-term housing solutions and discussed how they initiated their efforts.
July, 2023
August, 2023

Defining problem statement & design concepts

After our return from the first field trip, we took some time to really define the problem statement and design concepts.
August, 2023
September, 2023

Back at the university

The first month after the summer started very busy. Next to giving multiple presentations at the university about our project, we were also selected as one of the 5 out of 147, to the Borusan Recovery Program. During this month, our team also grew with many more team members hoping to make a positive impact!
September, 2023
October, 2023

Designing and Advisory Boards

In October, an advise group was formed by the municipality of Amsterdam to talk about all the projects happening from the Netherlands for Hatay. Multiple meetings, presentations, and networking events took place following the first meetings. By talking to many different stakeholders, we could also continue focusing and forming our design.
October, 2023
November, 2023

Fieldtrip #2 & Design Reveal & BK LAUNCH award & Meetings Moroccan Team

During our second visit, our main focus lied on choosing a specific village, making all the connections with local stakeholders and viewing the different plots where our first prototype could be build.

November, 2023
December, 2023

Media | Jeroen Pauw documantary

A second aim of the fieldtrip in november was to participate in the documentary of NPO1, where Jeroen Pauw visited the affected area and to portray the horrible disaster that took place in the South of Turkiye. The documentary was broadcasted on the 11th of December, 2023.
December, 2023
January, 2024

Design Sessions

The month of January stood in light of continuing to work on the design, while many of us had our final presentations, a smaller team came together to work on the design concepts and look at how we could work out the Core Unit.
January, 2024
February, 2024

Remembering one year Earthquake | TV scenes

In the beginning of February, many memorial events were organized by different parties in the Netherlands. Many different media from the Netherlands contacted us to have interviews with us to see how the area was doing and what type of different projects were taking place in the area.
February, 2024
March, 2024

Definitive Design, BAU Business fiar & Climate Contest TU Delft, Network events Meeting our financial goal!

Taking our design to a definitive design was our main focus this month! Next to that we joined many different networking events and participated in the Climate Contest of the TU Delft. Another big highlight this month was that we achieved our financial goals for our first prototype!
March, 2024
April, 2024

Conferance in Izmir

In the beginning of April, the team joined a symposium in Izmir, bringing together different academics and universities to talk about earthquake resilience in education. Here, together with ACIL, we presented our team. Later on, we gave the presentation during the AIA Conference, organized by Ali Hocek.
April, 2024
May, 2024

Our partners!

In may, multiple meetings were held with our partners and sponsors to see how we could proceed with our design process. We would like to thank these partners who guided us through the design phase: Derix, Rothoblaas, and Vitra. We also had a last meeting with the advisory groups about the Turkiye Reconstruction, organized by the Dutch Embassy in Ankara, where we presented our design.
May, 2024
June, 2024

Trip to London: meeting Bureau Happold, Foster and Partners

Our teacher Job arranged an informal business tour for extreme alumni in London. During this trip we had introductions at Bureau Happold, Foster and Partners and a presentation by Mehmet Kalyoncu about the reconstruction of Hatay and Ukraine after disaster, and how these firms are involved with the recovery process.
June, 2024
July, 2024

Summer design sessions with the whole team

After a very busy period for many of our team members, we organized a couple of design sessions to get back on track to achieve our goals.
July, 2024
August, 2024

Arranging legal papers, transportation, and finances.

Our team consists of many different people with various backgrounds, while most of us are architects and our main aim is to provide people homes, we also need to arrange other aspects of the building process. We keep learning by talking to professionals who are experienced. This month, in preparation for our third field trip, we dove deeper into the legal permits and transportation of our prototype.
August, 2024
September, 2024

Fieldtrip #3 | Hatay

During this very productive week we spend time with the family for who we will build our first prototype. We talked to them about their previous house, their daily routines in the village and explained our goals and designs. Next to that we had meetings with the municipality, local construction engineers and logistic companies. We visited Antakya, and met with different associations working for the recovery of Hatay and its people.
September, 2024
October, 2024

Finalising Partners and introducing them: mentional all partners

To make our very first prototype possible we are working together with many different partners
October, 2024
November, 2024

Technical Design

In this phase of the design, the whole team focused on completing the final project drawings. Meetings were held with different parties to see how the design could be as sustainable as possible and how to make the core unit self-sufficient. The last preparations and partners were contacted to ensure the building process could go as planned.
November, 2024
December, 2024

Planning | Steps towards the building process of the CORE Unit.

This month the team is focussing on working and completing all the work to make sure that the design is completed, the planning is made, the materials are ordered and that we are on track to be able to build the prototype in February.
December, 2024

Follow our next steps towards the building of the prototype which will be completed in April 2025

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Phase 3 | The Construction

As the Architectural Recovery Team, we understand that finding suitable housing is crucial. That is why we believe in working hand in hand with the community to identify the best solutions for their needs. That is why, based on the outcomes of the tests and research made before, during and after the prototype is completed, we hope to improve this prototype and scale up the project to reach more families in need in Hatay, Türkiye. The prototype, will be improved, and used as an example for upcoming sites. The houses will be built in collaboration with local construction firms and builders. The prototype can be implemented in the same village, but also in other villages surrounding Antakya, and Samadağ in Hatay.

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